Type-writing machine



(Ho Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet I.

B. I. PALMER.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

No. 597,015. Patented Jan. 11,1898.

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B. F. PALMERI` TYPE WRITING MAGHINB.

No. 597.015. .Patented Jan. 11,1898.

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'(No Model.) V 4 sheets-sneet 4.

B. F. PALMER.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

N0.59'7,015. Patented 56.11.711, 1898.

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Unirse STATES B. FRANK PALMER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,015, dated JanuaryI1, 1898. Application led February', 1896. Serial No. 580,656. (Nomodel.)

To LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that i, B. FRANK PALMER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inType-VVriting Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention is a type-writing machine of novel construction having forits chief objects simplicity of form and action, economy in itsmechanical construction, lightness in weight, strength, and durability,and of that class in which the writing is in plain sight of the operatorat all times. A

To attain the objects above set forth, I employ, generally speaking, arectangular case in which are contained a dat platen or bed, a movabletype-carriage, Va series of parallel type-bars, an automatic paper-lineadjuster, a condensed keyboard in which the keys are operated by astylus, an automatic inkingpad, and a device for striking the type-barsto secure the necessary impressions.

In the drawings, which form a part of this application, Figure 1 is aplan view of my machine. Fig. i. is a section on line 5c so of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a section on line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. i is a detail showing oneof the typebars. Fig. 5 is a detail of the paper-carrying and spacingmechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail of the mechanism for moving thetype-carriage. Figs. 7 and S are details showing the inkingpad inditterent positions. Fig. 9 shows the crank which operates the rockingshaft carrying the dog. Fig. l0 is a detail showing the bearings for thekeyboard-frame. Fig. l1 shows a modified form of type-bar. Figs. l2, 13,and le are side views, partly in section, of the type-bars and shiftingmechanism on an enlarged scale. y

Like lett-ers and numerals of reference indicate like parts in theseveral views.

The frame of my type-writing machine consists of the bed l, which may beof metal or wood, and side pieces 2 and 3, secured to the bed in anysuitable manner that will not obstruct the upper surface thereof. Thefront and rear of the bed are left open. Near the lfront edge of the bedl in a recess extending the full width of the bed and having bearings inthe sides 2 and 3 is a round rod a, for a purpose hereinafter explained.In va plate A about midway between its front and rear edges andextending across the plate is a platen h, which is raised slightly abovethe plane or surface of the bed, as shown in Fig. 3.

Secured toV the bed l is the plate A, composed of steel, aluminium, orother suitable material, and in the plate is a longitudinal slot orrecess to accommodate the platen b, which extends above the surface oi'said plate.

Along the front edge of the bed 1 extends a rod 4, which is mounted inthe sides 2 and 3 and in bearings c and has a rocking motion imparted toit by the crank 59. Secured to Wardly and forwardly therefrom atdifferent angles are shift disks or plates 5 and (i for upper-caseletters and figures. Secured to the rod 4C under the disks 5 and 6 andat corresponding angles thereto are arms 7 7?, which are bent to formshoulders d. and terminating in hooks d, adapted to grasp the rod 32when said arms are depressed. Springs e e, secured to the bed 1, holdthe arms normally above the rod 32. These shift disks or keys are n sedto throw the type-carriage rearwardly to present the upper-case lettersor the numerals, respectively, in position to be used. By pressing downon a disk the arm under that disk is thrown downward, its shoulder dstrikes the rod and throws it back, causing a corresponding movement ofthe type-carriage, which is carried on said rod, and the hooked end d ofthe arm limits the backward movement of said rod. By making the armunder one disk longer than the other it will be seen that the longer armwill carry the rod 32 backward farther than the shorter arm. Then thetypewriter is in its normal position, the type on the ends of thetype-bars are in use, and these are the small or lower-case letters. Itit be desired to print the upper-case or capital letters, the shift diskor key having capitals indicated on its face or upper side and theshorter arm under it are depressed and the carriage is caused to movebackwardly one point until the capital letters, which are the middlecharacters on the type-bars, are brought over the notch 2S in the leaf26, when they are in positon 'for use. If it be desired to print the therod 4 near either end and extending up` IOO numerals, the disk havingsuch characters on its face and the. longer arm under it are depressed,when the carriage is thrown backward two points and the numerals are inposition for use.

At the rear of the rod 4 is a tixed bar S, supported at either end inthe sides 2 and 3, upon which moves the type-carriage mechanism. Thismechanism consists of an L-shaped plate 9, having its horizontal partformed with upturned ends e f, through holes in which the rod or bar 8passes and supports the plate above the platen. The plate 9 is providedalong its front edge with a iange g', to which is secured theratchet-bar 10. Pivoted in the top of said bar 10 at either end areshort arms h t', tothe outer ends of which is piv-` oted theratchet-bar1l, the teeth of which are set at an angle opposite to theangle of the teeth in the plate or bar 10. A spring j, secured to thetop of the bar 10 and having its free end playing between two small pins7a 7c on the arm fz', serves to hold apart the ratchet-bars l0 and 11,as the normal action is to throw outward the bar 11. This action of thespring j is overcome by the dog 12, which is rigidly secured to the roda, the rocking motion of which causes the dogto engage the teeth of theratchet-bars. As the dog is disengaged from the teeth in the bar 11 thespring j causes a forward movement of the latter, so that when the dogreturns it engages a different tooth, and a movement of thetype-carriage mechanism to the right results. A detentj' on theright-hand end of the bar 10 limits the forward movement of the arm t'.

Between the upturned end e of the plate 9 and a guide-rod m, secured tosaid plat-e about two inches from said end, is the 4alinementarm 13,having upturned edges n' n', through holes in which is a rod 14, whichalso passes through a longitudinal slot in the end c of the plate 9 andunder the guide-rod on. The arm 13 is supported throughout its length bythe vertical part 16 of the plate 9. At the rear end of the arm 13 isthe wire triangularshaped alinement-yoke 15. To the left-hand edge ofthe part 16 of the plate 9 is secured one end ot' a spring-lever 17, thefree end of which is normally above the arm 13 and is bent at rightangles to form an arm 18, the end of which engages a link 19 on the endof a sleeve 20, which turns upon and is supported by a rod 21, securedto the part 16 of the plate 9. On the end of the sleeve 20 opposite thelink 19 is an arm for carrying the inking-pad 23, which turns with thesleeve as it is partially revolved by the spring-lever 17 acting on thelink 19. To the right-hand edge of the part 16 of the plate 9 is securedone end of a spring-rod 24, near the free end of which is carried anink-supply pad 25, which comes in contact with the pad 23 when thelatter is depressed. To prevent the inkpads from touching the platen orthe paper, I place under them a leaf 26 of thin metal,

which is secured to a rod 27, which in turn is secured to and supportedby the plate 9. A

square notch 28 is cut in the leaf 26 directly under the striking-pointof the types 29 on the type-bars 30, the diameter of said notch beingsufficient to permit but one of the types to strike the paper at thesame stroke. To secure a clearim pression from the type struck, the rodb in the platen and bed is raised slightly above the face of the platenin the slot provided for that purpose, which causes a ridge in the paperalong the line of writing. The ridge at this point also relieves thetype not used from the full force of the blow on the leaf 26.

Attached to the platen A and extending across the same is a rod s', uponwhich slides the plate 9 as it moves from left to right.

The type-bars 30, one of which is shown complete and eight cut oii inFig. 1, are ot' thin steel, with a vert-ical diameter from six to eighttimes the thickness. Said bars are hinged on the rod 14 and are normallyheld at an vangle above the platen by springs 31, which are secured tothe arln 13 between the upturned edges n n', there being a spring foreach bar. The cross-piece h of the yoke 15 limits the height at whichthe bars are held by the springs. On the upper edge of each type-bar isa lug fi', arranged so that no two lugs are opposite each other.

Above the type-bars is a frame composed of horizontal rods 32 and 33 andvertical rods 34 and 35. The rod 32 has sliding bearings in the tracksor ways 7o, secured to the inside of the sides 2 and 3 of the frame, asshown in Fig. 10. The rod 33 is rigidly supported in the upper ends ofthe brackets t, the lower z ends of which are pivoted on the pins m inthe sides of the frame. The rods 34 and 35 connect'the rod 32 with thebrackets t. Vithin the space formed bythe rods 32, 33, 34, and 35 isarranged a series of parallel bent rods lor wires 36,v corresponding innumber to the type-bars, which are hinged on the rod 32. Each of therods 36 contacts with one of the lugs t" on the type-bars, so that whena rod is depressed a corresponding depression takes place in thetype-bar. To the bent rods 36 are secured keys H E R I A S N O T,representing the letters on the type-bars, which contact by means of thelugs t with said rods, respectively, so that when said keys aredepressed a corresponding depression takes place in the rods 36.Vertical rods 37, the upper ends of which rest in a notched plate 3S onthe rod 33 and the lower ends rest upon the rod 32, are secured to therods 36 and serve as supports therefor and cause them to return to theirnormal positions after being depressed.

Placed under the rods 36 so that it rests upon them is a spacing-bar 33,which is also hinged to the rod 32 and rests on the forward end of alever 39, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. This lever 39 is fulcrumed in anangle-plate 40, which is secured to the bed ot the machine,

Lil

and the forward end-of the lever is supported by a spring 4l, one-end ofwhich is attached to the plate 40. Near the rear end of the lever 39 andat right angles therewith are two small pins o o, which serve as detentefor the trigger 42,0ne end of which is notched, so that the trigger maypass said detente when the lever is depressed at its forward end. Thetrigger 42 is rigidly secured to a revolving rod 43, having bearings inthe sides 2 and 3 of the frame. On the right-hand end of the rod 43 ismounted a pinion 44, which meshes with the driving-pinion 45 of a motor46. Said motor maybe of any convenient type and forms no part of thisinvention.

A bent arm 47 is rigidly secured to the rod 43, and as it revolves withsaid rod in the direction shown by the arrows in Figs. l, 2, and 3 itstrikes the ends of the type-bars 30 and causes them to descend in thealinement-yoke and strike the paper, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 7,when the said type-bars have been brought within the path oi. therevolving arm 47. ln order to bring the type-bars within the path ot thearm 47, a slight touch only is required on. the keys H E R, dsc., which,acting on the bent rods 36, causes them to depress the type-bars throughcontact with the lugs i'.

The paper carrying and adjusting mechanism is composed of a rod 47,having bearings in uprights s, secured to the bed of the machine at theleft-hand side. Sliding on the rod 47 is a papeihholding frame,consisting of the plate 43, having upturned flanges 49, in which areinserted at right angles with said flanges and on theinner side thereofpins 50, as shown in Fig. l. Below the paper-holding Jframe and securedto the rod 47 are plates 5l, between which and the rictional roller 52the paper is inserted and is held in place by frictional contact.Engaging the pins 50 is a downwardly-extending arm 52 (see Fig. 2) of arocking lever 53, which is supported by brackets 54 on the side 2 of themachine. This rocking lever has on its opposite end a downwardly andforwardly extending arm 57, which is moved backward when the plate 9 ismoved to the extreme left side or startingpoint, causing a correspondingmovement of the arm 52 on the other end of the lever. A spring 53,attached to the side 2 of the frame, returns the arm 57 toits normalposition when the plate 9 is moved to the right. It will be seen thatthe effect of this action is to release the arm 52 from engagement withone of the pins 50 each time the carriage is brought back to thestarting-point at the left-hand side of the machine. As soon the arm 52is released frozn one of the pins 50 the tension of the spring 5S movesthe plate 48 until the arm 52 catches on the next pin and the paper iscarried up one line.

lt will be seen that the rods 3G constitute a bank of type-bar leverswhich are moved forward or backward with the rod 32, to which they arehinged. As the rod 32 is connected with the rod 33 by means of the bars34 and 35, any forward or backward movement of the former rod will becommunicated to 33, and vice versa. The spring 60, the free end of whichbears against the rod 33, holds it toward the front of the machine,which is the normal position of the frame, composed of the rods 32 and33 and the bars 34 and 35 and the bank of type-bar levers 36. Eachtypebar has three characters, the lower-case letters being nearest theend of the bar, the capital letters being next, and the iigures andpunctuationmarks next. ln the arm 13, which carries the type-bars, aretwo pairs of vertical posts 55, which straddle the rod 32, so that theforward or backward movement of said rod causes a corresponding movementin the arm 13, and hence the type-bars 30 may be adjusted sothat thecapital letters or the numerals will be brought directly over the notchin the leaf 2G, as desired. Having described the construction of mymachine, l will now describe its operation.

The paper-carrier is brought forward until the arm 52 engages the lastpin 50, and the paper is inserted between the roller 52SL and the plates5l and pushed forward until the line or point at which it is desired tobegin the writing is directly under the notch 2S. The keys are thendepressed bya stylus held in the right hand, a light touch only beingrequired to carry the rods 3G against the end of the lever 39 withsufiieient force to raise the opposite end of said lever, so that thetrigger 42 will pass the pins 0 o through the notch in the end of thetrigger for that purpose. The power extended to the rod 43 from themotor 46 through the pinions 44 and 45 will canse the rod to rotate,carrying with it the arm 46 and the trigger42. The same movement thatdepressed the lever 39 also depressed one of the type-bars 30 throughthe action of one of the rods 3G strikin g one of the lugs i on saidtypebar, so that the outer end of said bar is brought within the line ofthe path of the revolving arm 46, the revolution of which carries thesaid type-bar downward inthe alinement-yoke, in contact with theink-roller 23, and through the notch 23 to the paper. crank 59, which isconnected with said rod on the outside of the side 3 of the frame and atits opposite end with a crank-pin (i0 on the end oi' the rod a, (seeFig. 9,) is revolved and a rocking movement imparted to said rod a,which causes the dog l2 to move in and out of engagement with the teethon the bar 1l. l/Vhen it is desired to space between words or letters,the rod 38 is depressed without touching the keys. To use the capitalletters, the disk containing such letters is depressed, which causes acorresponding depression of the arm 7 under such disk, when the shoulderd', pressing against the rod 32, causes a forward movement of said roduntil it is checked by thehook CZ on the end of said arm 7.

lt will be apparent that my construction On each revolution of the rod43 a` ICO IIO

permits the use of as many type-bars as may be required and that anyform of motor may be employed.

Having described the construction and operation of my type-writingmachine, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,isn

l. In a type-writing machine, the combination with a platen of a movabletype-baremriage, a series of bars secured to and moving with saidcarriage having types thereon, means for inking said type, a series ofrods acting on said type-bars respectively, a revolving arm fordepressing the type-bars as presented to it and means for operating saidarm, substantially as described.

2. In a type-Writing machine, the combination with a platen, of amovable carriage, a series of type-bars secured thereto, an inkingdevice supported by said carriage and operated by said type-bars, aseries of rods for partially depressing the type-bars, keys secured tosaid rods, a revolving arm for further depressing the type-bars and amotor for operating said arm, all as set forth.

3. In a type-writing machine, the combination with a platen of a movablecarriage, means for operating said carriage, a series of type-barssecured thereto, an inking device supported by said carriage andoperated byA said type-bars, a series of rods for partially depressingthe type-bars, type-keys secured to said rods, a revolving arm forfurther depressing the type-bars, means for operating said arm, and analinement device having a passage for the type-bars, all substantiallyas set forth.

et. In a type-writing machine the combination with a platen7 a movabletype-bar carriage, means for moving said carriage, an inking devicesupported on said carriage and operated by the type-bars, a series oftypebar-depressing rods and keys secured thereto, a revolving arm forfurther depressing the type-bars, means for operating said arm, analinement device having a passage for the type-bars and a paper-holdingand line-spacing mechanism substantially as described.

5. In a type-writing machine the combination with a platen of a movabletype-bar carriage, means for moving said carriage, a series of type-barssecured to said carriage, an inking device supported on the carriage andoperated by the type-bars, a series of typebar-depressing rods and keyssecured thereto, means for further depressing said type-bars, analinement device, a paper-holding and line-spacing mechanism and meansfor shifting the type-carriage forward and backward, substantially asset forth.

6. In a type-writing machine of the character described, a dat platen, amovable typecarriage, means for operating said carriage, type-barssupported in said carriage, an inking device attached to thetype-carriage and automatically operated by the type bars, alinementdevice secured to the type-carriage,

a series of rods for partially depressing the type-bars, an arm forcompleting the depression of said bars, a motor for operating said arm,a lever for releasing said arm, a paperholding and line-spacingmechanism operi ated by the type-carriage, and means for shifting thetype-carriage forward or backward. substantially in the manner and forthe purposes described. v

7. In a type-writing machine of the character described, a flat platen,a movable typecarriage, means for operating said carriage, type-barssupported in said carriage, an inking device attached to thetype-carriage and automatically operated by the type-bars, analinement-yoke, a series of rods adapted to partially depress thetype-bars, a keyboard connected with the said rods, a revolving arm forcompleting the depression of said typebars, a motor for operating and alever for releasing the type-depressing arm, means for depressing saidlever in combination with a paper-holding and Aline-spacing mechanism.substantially as set forth.

8. In a type-writing machine, aflat platen. a type-carriage adapted tomove horizontally across said platen by means of an escapement, arocking shaft, a crank connecting' said rocking shaft with arevolvingrod driven by a motor, type-bars supported in said carriage, an inkingdevice composed of a rod carrying one or more ink-pads, attached to ysaid carriage and automatically operated by the type-bars, a series ofrods corresponding with the number of type-bars and adapted tovpartially depress the same, a series of keys connected with said rods,a type-bar-depressing arm, a motor for operating and a lever forarresting and releasing said arm, means for depressing said lever, armsfor shifting the type carriage forward and backward. disks connectedwith said arms and having indicated thereon the letters, numerals orother characters corresponding with the types used, in combination witha paper-holding and line-spacing mechanism substantially as described.

9. In a type-writing machine, aiiat platen` a type-carriage adapted tomove horizontally across said platen, means for operating said carriage,type-bars supported in said carriage. an arm for depressing saidtype-bars, a motor for operating and a leverfor detaining and releasingsaid arm, in combination with a paper-holding and line-spacing mechanismcomposed of a crank-lever operating on a rackbar against the tension ofa spring, and .t friction-roller, all substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specication in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

B. FRANK PALMER.

IVitnesses:

J. Ross CoLHoUN, M. LARMAN.

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